Hey Karen
by Mnema
Summary: "My heart is an ocean, vastly deep with dark secrets."
1. Thunderbolts of Love

Author's Note: Inspired by the album "What Would You Say?" by Part Time, this story follows Karen of Harvest Moon 64's Flowerbud Village as she learns what love is and what it means to truly love someone.

Each chapter corresponds to a track on the album. I highly recommend listening to each song as you read.

Comin' in hot and heavy for this first chapter. Rated M for Mature.

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><p><strong>Track 1: Thunderbolts of Love<strong>

Are you alone?

The rain fell in sheets as I ran through the night. With my hood drawn over my head, I hastily made my way through the familiar grove which was barely recognizable in the darkness of the storm. Thunder rumbled high in the sky. I groped the back wall of the wine cellar, looking for that crack in the cement, a secret entrance I had known about ever since I was a little girl. I used it for much more innocent endeavors then. Thunderbolts of love crashed into my eyes. There he stood shrouded in the darkness, his smooth, dark skin and soft eyes illuminated briefly by the lightning.

There were no words exchanged. I ran into his arms, my hair dripping from the rain, his strong hands cradling my face as I kissed him longingly. The kiss deepened, his grip tightened, my hands fumbled at his belt buckle. Quickly, I kept thinking, we had to be quick. There was never enough time. Suddenly, he picked me up and put me between the wall and his chest, the hardness of his stomach exposed as his muscles tightened from the strain, my legs wrapped around his waist, his body chiseled from years of hard labor. I held on around his neck. He smelled faintly of cedar wood and red wine.

"Karen..." he whispered, barely audible over the storm outside. I hushed him with another hard kiss, my tongue finding his.

I felt him push against me, finding his way in. I stifled a moan. Even with the roar of the thunder, we couldn't risk being heard. The lightning crashed again, his skin glistening from the exertion, by back against the cold cellar wall. I bit his neck to quiet myself as we rode out the storm together. I felt my heart quicken its pace, my breath shortened, I dug my nails into his back. He pushed harder against me, my legs quivering from being hoisted in the air. His grip tight, he pushed my legs back further, my flexibility reaching its limit. I almost couldn't take it. He pulled back far enough for me to see his body as he slid back into me for the final time, his mouth finding mine as his warmth pleasantly came forth inside me.

I felt like a wild animal. A tiger. I could never be tamed.


	2. I Wanna Take You Out

**Track 2: I Wanna Take You Out**

Even in the dim purple twilight, the ring on my finger caught the light brilliantly. I held my hand out, feeling its weight and wondering what it truly meant to be a wife. He smiled at me warmly, probably thinking that I was admiring the ring for the meticulous pattern of diamond chips placed around the large center piece diamond, a design he knew I had desired because he listened to everything I said. It was perfect, too perfect. He was too perfect.

"Don't worry about anything, Karen," he said, his voice strong and sure as he put his arm around me, "I'm workin' hard and I wanna take you out tonight."

"I know," I pulled away from him, not able to bear the weight, "I've just got a lot on my mind."

"I understand, love."

We walked hand-in-hand to the bar. Usually, I was waiting tables at this hour, fulfilling every man's request for more. They'd never give me tips, I earned my tips by smiling at them, flirting with them, leading them to believe I wanted them. Nothing is ever given to you. Nothing is free. My father dropped off the weekly shipment of wine to Duke, stopping by our table briefly to talk about me in the third person to my fiancé. They spoke as if I wasn't even there, about how wonderful everything was. I didn't feel wonderful. Others told me the same, people I had known since childhood. "How wonderful" they'd say, and I would reply with some haughty retort about how I was not marriage material. It was true, I was not marriage material, but no one saw through the facade. I picked at my food, nervously waiting for 10 o'clock to roll around.

Then he walked in. Without so much as a glance in my direction he made his way to his normal seat where we had spent many nights chatting about his life before coming to this small town, where I had spent many hours daydreaming about a life with him. What would it be like to be free? To be surrounded by opportunities and people I had never seen before?

"Love, is everything alright? You've barely eaten…"

Without replying, I polished off my third glass of wine, my eyeliner slightly running from the tears that emerged in my eyes. The wine just went down the wrong way I said as _he_ looked over at me from across the bar, a grin on his face. With him, could I be free? Would he take me to all the wonderful places he had told me about? No, he couldn't. No one could. I didn't know it then but those places only existed in my dreams.


	3. Living In Pretend (My Girl Imagination)

**Track 3: Living In Pretend (My Girl Imagination)**

I sat on the beach in the moonlight. Another screaming match with my father, another reason to blame me for my mother's fragile emotional state. It's your fault, I'd scream, she always wanted to be a dancer. She had dreams before you tied her down and knocked her up. Karen, I love you, I never regret becoming pregnant with you. I never believed her when she said that, I knew that if I had become pregnant then I would have regretted it. I would have regretted it terribly.

The sound of the waves crashing mirrored by restless soul. Angry, wild, unforgiving, the waves of emotion were violent. The rhythmic melody of the ocean sent vibrations throughout my body. Sometimes, I found myself humming to a tune I felt rather than heard. Like my mother, I too loved to dance and sing. What had she dreamt about when she was young? Was she like me? Did she long for freedom too but made the mistake of marrying a man who only trapped her and made her life miserable? She had once been so beautiful, but as I had grown older I noticed the toll that life in this town had taken on her, her once accentuated features dulled by the mundane life she agreed to.

I looked in the reflection of glass at the small ticket station on the pier. The moonlight lit my face, my face that was beautiful just as my mother's was. But one day, I would be just like her. Lost, trapped, unhappy and living a life of routine and regret. I forced a smile, noting the curve of my cheekbones and the dark hair that framed them.

Was I in love with him, or was I in love with the idea of him? I no longer felt free, I felt trapped. I had to escape from this cage I had put myself in.


End file.
